Feb 5, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said it was not a good idea for Barisan Nasional (BN) to gain majority by bringing in people of poor quality.

He said this when ask to comment on the move by four assemblymen in Perak who left Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and DAP.

Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (PKR-Behrang), Osman Jailu (PKR-Changkat Jering) and Hee Yit Foong (DAP-Jelapang) who is also state assembly deputy speaker have declared their intention to become independent representatives while Datuk Nasaruddin Hashim (Bota), who recently joined PKR, has returned to Umno.

Following this, the Pas-PKR-DAP alliance's majority in the 59-seat state assembly drops from 32 to 28 while BN's seats rose from 27 to 28.

Wednesday afternoon (4 Feb), Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Najib Tun Razak said in a press conference that BN has enough state assemblymen to form the next government as the three independent have vowed to support BN.

Dr Mahathir said: "Two people are accused of corruption. If you bring in corrupt people before they are found not guilty that is not going to improve the quality of the party. You want to accept people who want to jump into your party you need to know the quality of the person also."

Jamaluddin and Osman have been charged with corruption and their cases are still pending in court.

Dr Mahathir also warned that if they were found by the court to be innocent after joining BN, people would say that there was manipulation of justice. (Bernama)